DOCSLIB.ORG

Activity 7: Can the Bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki Be Justified?

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
Activity 7: Can the Bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki Be Justified? Activity 7: Instructions World War II Activity 7: Can the bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki be justified? Purpose To examine historic evidence to draw conclusions and reach informed opinions. Curriculum Focus History - Understand the diverse experiences and ideas, beliefs and attitudes of men, women and children in past societies, identify and explain change and continuity within and across periods of history identify, select and use a range of historical sources, evaluate the sources used in order to reach reasoned conclusions, present and organise accounts and explanations about the past that are coherent, structured and substantiated, use chronological conventions and historical vocabulary. Communication – Oracy, reading, writing. ICT - Structure, refine and communicate information, produce a presentation. Thinking Skills - Identify the problem and set the questions to resolve it, suggest a range of options as to where and how to find relevant information and ideas, ask probing questions, build on existing skills, knowledge and understanding, evaluate options, use prior knowledge to explain links between cause and effect and justify inferences/ predictions, identify and assess bias and reliability, consider others’ views to inform opinions and decisions, determine success criteria and give some justification for choice. P4C – Feeling empathy. Materials Included in this pack: Activity sheet 7a – Student introduction Activity sheet 7b – Hiroshima before and after the bombing Activity sheet 7c – Detonations of the atomic bombs Activity sheet 7d – The effects of the atomic bombs (Warning: Contains graphic images of survivors of the bombings) Activity sheet 7e – Enola Gay and Bockscar Activity sheet 7f – Statistics Activity sheet 7g – Eyewitness accounts You will also need: Internet access, rope Groupings Whole class, four or five ©Imaginative Minds Ltd. Activity 7: Instructions World War II Procedure Before sharing any of the activity sheets with the pupils, there are two activities that would lend themselves to P4C. They are Agree/Disagree line and Decision Alley. Only one activity is undertaken not both. It is an excellent way to provoke thought and activate prior knowledge. The group discussion and presentation then allows pupils to make links between their prior knowledge and new knowledge. Agree / disagree line Write up the statement, ‘Can the bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki be justified?’ There is a huge debate surrounding this cataclysmic event. Some believe it is justified while others do not. Before looking at any of the activity sheets, tell the pupils they will have to decide whether it was justified or not. Lay the rope across the floor and ask the pupils who agree with the statement to stand on one side of the rope and those who don’t to stand on the other side of the rope. Those who cannot decide stand on the rope, but they must come to a decision before the end of the session. The groups discuss their choices with each other and share their reasons. They need to listen to each other and be prepared to change their minds. Decision Alley The class is divided in half and stand in two lines opposite each other, creating an alley. Pupils take it in turns to walk through the alley. The pupils on one side of the alley give their reasons why the bombings can be justified, the pupils on the other side give their argument against. After each pupil has walked through the alley, they come to a decision as to which side of the alley they should join. The pupils sit together at the front of the class and respond to questions from the other pupils. • What have you decided? Can the bombings be justified? • Why do you think that? • How would lives change if the atomic bombs had not been dropped? Finally, take a vote. Discuss activity sheet 7a with pupils. Present them with the other activity sheets. Explain that the pupils will look at the evidence they have been given and also have access to the internet if they wish to look for any other evidence. In their groups, the pupils will examine all the evidence and discuss its impact. They need to keep in mind the overriding question of whether or not the dropping of the Atomic Bombs was justified. After group discussion, the pupils can present their arguments as a ©Imaginative Minds Ltd. Activity 7: Instructions World War II group or individuals. They could support their presentation with a PowerPoint, but the PowerPoint is only to support spoken arguments and not to be the presentation itself. If the pupils choose to use PowerPoint, the pupils will use graphics pictures and sound. Ask the pupils to set clear success criteria for their presentations e.g. the reason for presenting the information to the audience, the key messages, issues in producing effective presentations. On completion of the presentation, pupils will determine the success of their presentation by applying their chosen evaluation criteria. Pupils will need to have a copy of their criteria and then take each criterion in turn and apply it to the project. They will need to decide: whether they have met the requirements of the criterion how well each criterion is met what areas need to be improved how each area for development could be improved Pupils will present their presentation in an appropriate manner to the rest of the class. At the end of the presentation, the rest of the class should be asked if there are any questions they want to ask and evaluate the work of the presenting group. Have they informed the rest of the class about the value and importance of their views? Teacher’s Note This activity will take a number of sessions. Pupils will analyse and evaluate information and then present it in an effective manner. All pupils will make contributions and will take part in the presentation giving reluctant speakers the opportunity to contribute a small section and to have support from their group in all stages of producing their presentation. ©Imaginative Minds Ltd. Activity sheet 7a World War II Can the bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki be justified? The photographs above show celebrations taking place for victory in Europe. The war in Europe ended in May 1945, however the war with Japan was still raging and many women were still waiting for their husbands, sons and brothers to return. ©Imaginative Minds Ltd. Activity sheet 7a World War II Scientists in America had been working on a new type of weapon for many years – the atomic bomb. In March 1945, they carried out the first successful test in the desert in Mexico at Trinity Site. The effect the bomb had was tremendous. Scientists had invented the most powerful weapon on earth, with the power for total destruction. The Americans had two more of these bombs, each with the capability to destroy a city. What no one knew was what the effects of the bombs, both long and short term, would be on people. To bring the war in the Pacific to a speedy conclusion, the decision was taken to drop an atomic bomb on Hiroshima on 6 th August 1945. Within seconds, 75,000 people had been killed or fatally injured. The Americans asked the Japanese to surrender, they refused. Three days later, a second atomic bomb was dropped on Nagasaki killing a further 42,000 people. Six days later, the Japanese surrendered. The Japanese surrender The bombings When ‘Little Boy’ was dropped on Hiroshima by the B29 bomber Enola Gay, the initial heat blast was 900 times hotter than the surface of the sun. The winds created travelled at 500 mph and everything in a two-mile radius was flattened. It has been reported that the mushroom cloud rose to 17,000 metres. Within thirty minutes of the blinding white flash came the black rain, infecting the areaThe and bombthe people devastated it fell upon. Hiroshim a and Nagasaki In the bombings of both Hiroshima and Nagasaki, the Americans guess 117,000 people were killed. The Japanese dispute this figure and say a quarter of a million. The bombs had a devastating effect on the environment. Many plants and animals were killed or died months later from radiation. Radioactive sands clogged wells for drinking water. Water sources were polluted by radioactive waste. Agriculture was damaged. The two atomic bombs vaporised around 117,000 people in Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Those who survived are called "hibakusha"-- meaning people exposed to the bomb -- and there are a number of them still living today. Why did they do it? ©Imaginative Minds Ltd. Activity sheet 7a World War II The reason given by President Truman for dropping the Atomic Bombs was that they were dropped to end the war in Japan quickly, saving thousands of American lives. The invasion of Okinawa, April to June 1945, had claimed over 50,000 casualties for the Allies. The USA believed that Japan would never surrender and Japan had 5,000 aircraft and 5 million soldiers prepared to fight to the death. However, it is often claimed that there were other reasons that led Truman to his decision: The Japanese were on the verge of surrender in August 1945 anyway – many historians believe that the bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki was revenge for Pearl Harbour and Japanese war crimes against Allied prisoners of war. Truman dropped the atomic bombs because he wanted to end the war and keep the Soviets out of the war in the Pacific. By dropping the bombs, he could prevent the USSR from entering the war in the Pacific and claiming the lands promised them at Yalta. There is no doubt that Stalin saw the dropping of the bombs as directed more at Russia than Japan. ‘They are killing the Japanese and intimidating us,’ he told Molotov, his minister for Foreign Affairs.
Load more

Recommended publications
  • The Smithsonian and the Enola Gay: the Crew
    AFA’s Enola Gay Controversy Archive Collection www.airforcemag.com The Smithsonian and the Enola Gay From the Air Force Association’s Enola Gay Controversy archive collection Online at www.airforcemag.com The Crew The Commander Paul Warfield Tibbets was born in Quincy, Ill., Feb. 23, 1915. He joined the Army in 1937, became an aviation cadet, and earned his wings and commission in 1938. In the early years of World War II, Tibbets was an outstanding B-17 pilot and squadron commander in Europe. He was chosen to be a test pilot for the B-29, then in development. In September 1944, Lt. Col. Tibbets was picked to organize and train a unit to deliver the atomic bomb. He was promoted to colonel in January 1945. In May 1945, Tibbets took his unit, the 509th Composite Group, to Tinian, from where it flew the atomic bomb missions against Japan in August. After the war, Tibbets stayed in the Air Force. One of his assignments was heading the bomber requirements branch at the Pentagon during the development of the B-47 jet bomber. He retired as a brigadier general in 1966. In civilian life, he rose to chairman of the board of Executive Jet Aviation in Columbus, Ohio, retiring from that post in 1986. At the dedication of the National Air and Space Museum’s Udvar- Hazy Center in December 2003, the 88-year-old Tibbets stood in front of the restored Enola Gay, shaking hands and receiving the high regard of visitors. (Col. Paul Tibbets in front of the Enola Gay—US Air Force photo) The Enola Gay Crew Airplane Crew Col.
    [Show full text]
  • The Making of an Atomic Bomb
    (Image: Courtesy of United States Government, public domain.) INTRODUCTORY ESSAY "DESTROYER OF WORLDS": THE MAKING OF AN ATOMIC BOMB At 5:29 a.m. (MST), the world’s first atomic bomb detonated in the New Mexican desert, releasing a level of destructive power unknown in the existence of humanity. Emitting as much energy as 21,000 tons of TNT and creating a fireball that measured roughly 2,000 feet in diameter, the first successful test of an atomic bomb, known as the Trinity Test, forever changed the history of the world. The road to Trinity may have begun before the start of World War II, but the war brought the creation of atomic weaponry to fruition. The harnessing of atomic energy may have come as a result of World War II, but it also helped bring the conflict to an end. How did humanity come to construct and wield such a devastating weapon? 1 | THE MANHATTAN PROJECT Models of Fat Man and Little Boy on display at the Bradbury Science Museum. (Image: Courtesy of Los Alamos National Laboratory.) WE WAITED UNTIL THE BLAST HAD PASSED, WALKED OUT OF THE SHELTER AND THEN IT WAS ENTIRELY SOLEMN. WE KNEW THE WORLD WOULD NOT BE THE SAME. A FEW PEOPLE LAUGHED, A FEW PEOPLE CRIED. MOST PEOPLE WERE SILENT. J. ROBERT OPPENHEIMER EARLY NUCLEAR RESEARCH GERMAN DISCOVERY OF FISSION Achieving the monumental goal of splitting the nucleus The 1930s saw further development in the field. Hungarian- of an atom, known as nuclear fission, came through the German physicist Leo Szilard conceived the possibility of self- development of scientific discoveries that stretched over several sustaining nuclear fission reactions, or a nuclear chain reaction, centuries.
    [Show full text]
  • The Manhattan Project and Its Legacy
    Transforming the Relationship between Science and Society: The Manhattan Project and Its Legacy Report on the workshop funded by the National Science Foundation held on February 14 and 15, 2013 in Washington, DC Table of Contents Executive Summary iii Introduction 1 The Workshop 2 Two Motifs 4 Core Session Discussions 6 Scientific Responsibility 6 The Culture of Secrecy and the National Security State 9 The Decision to Drop the Bomb 13 Aftermath 15 Next Steps 18 Conclusion 21 Appendix: Participant List and Biographies 22 Copyright © 2013 by the Atomic Heritage Foundation. All rights reserved. No part of this book, either text or illustration, may be reproduced or transmit- ted in any form by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, reporting, or by any information storage or retrieval system without written persmission from the publisher. Report prepared by Carla Borden. Design and layout by Alexandra Levy. Executive Summary The story of the Manhattan Project—the effort to develop and build the first atomic bomb—is epic, and it continues to unfold. The decision by the United States to use the bomb against Japan in August 1945 to end World War II is still being mythologized, argued, dissected, and researched. The moral responsibility of scientists, then and now, also has remained a live issue. Secrecy and security practices deemed necessary for the Manhattan Project have spread through the govern- ment, sometimes conflicting with notions of democracy. From the Manhattan Project, the scientific enterprise has grown enormously, to include research into the human genome, for example, and what became the Internet. Nuclear power plants provide needed electricity yet are controversial for many people.
    [Show full text]
  • Trivia Questions
    TRIVIA QUESTIONS Submitted by: ANS Savannah River - A. Bryson, D. Hanson, B. Lenz, M. Mewborn 1. What was the code name used for the first U.S. test of a dry fuel hydrogen bomb? Castle Bravo 2. What was the name of world’s first artificial nuclear reactor to achieve criticality? Chicago Pile-1 (CP-1), I also seem to recall seeing/hearing them referred to as “number one,” “number two,” etc. 3. How much time elapsed between the first known sustained nuclear chain reaction at the University of Chicago and the _____ Option 1: {first use of this new technology as a weapon} or Option 2: {dropping of the atomic bomb in Hiroshima} A3) First chain reaction = December 2nd 1942, First bomb-drop = August 6th 1945 4. Some sort of question drawing info from the below tables. For example, “what were the names of the other aircraft that accompanied the Enola Gay (one point for each correct aircraft name)?” Another example, “What was the common word in the call sign of the pilots who flew the Japanese bombing missions?” A4) Screenshots of tables from the Wikipedia page “Atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki” Savannah River Trivia / Page 1 of 18 5. True or False: Richard Feynman’s name is on the patent for a nuclear powered airplane? (True) 6. What is the Insectary of Bobo-Dioulasso doing to reduce the spread of sleeping sickness and wasting diseases that affect cattle using a nuclear technique? (Sterilizing tsetse flies; IAEA.org) 7. What was the name of the organization that studied that radiological effects on people after the atomic bombings? Atomic Bomb Casualty Commission 8.
    [Show full text]
  • Smithsonian and the Enola
    An Air Force Association Special Report The Smithsonian and the Enola Gay The Air Force Association The Air Force Association (AFA) is an independent, nonprofit civilian organiza- tion promoting public understanding of aerospace power and the pivotal role it plays in the security of the nation. AFA publishes Air Force Magazine, sponsors national symposia, and disseminates infor- mation through outreach programs of its affiliate, the Aerospace Education Founda- tion. Learn more about AFA by visiting us on the Web at www.afa.org. The Aerospace Education Foundation The Aerospace Education Foundation (AEF) is dedicated to ensuring America’s aerospace excellence through education, scholarships, grants, awards, and public awareness programs. The Foundation also publishes a series of studies and forums on aerospace and national security. The Eaker Institute is the public policy and research arm of AEF. AEF works through a network of thou- sands of Air Force Association members and more than 200 chapters to distrib- ute educational material to schools and concerned citizens. An example of this includes “Visions of Exploration,” an AEF/USA Today multi-disciplinary sci- ence, math, and social studies program. To find out how you can support aerospace excellence visit us on the Web at www. aef.org. © 2004 The Air Force Association Published 2004 by Aerospace Education Foundation 1501 Lee Highway Arlington VA 22209-1198 Tel: (703) 247-5839 Produced by the staff of Air Force Magazine Fax: (703) 247-5853 Design by Guy Aceto, Art Director An Air Force Association Special Report The Smithsonian and the Enola Gay By John T. Correll April 2004 Front cover: The huge B-29 bomber Enola Gay, which dropped an atomic bomb on Japan, is one of the world’s most famous airplanes.
    [Show full text]
  • Foundation Document Manhattan Project National Historical Park Tennessee, New Mexico, Washington January 2017 Foundation Document
    NATIONAL PARK SERVICE • U.S. DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR Foundation Document Manhattan Project National Historical Park Tennessee, New Mexico, Washington January 2017 Foundation Document MANHATTAN PROJECT NATIONAL HISTORICAL PARK Hanford Washington ! Los Alamos Oak Ridge New Mexico Tennessee ! ! North 0 700 Kilometers 0 700 Miles More detailed maps of each park location are provided in Appendix E. Manhattan Project National Historical Park Contents Mission of the National Park Service 1 Mission of the Department of Energy 2 Introduction 3 Part 1: Core Components 4 Brief Description of the Park. 4 Oak Ridge, Tennessee. 5 Los Alamos, New Mexico . 6 Hanford, Washington. 7 Park Management . 8 Visitor Access. 8 Brief History of the Manhattan Project . 8 Introduction . 8 Neutrons, Fission, and Chain Reactions . 8 The Atomic Bomb and the Manhattan Project . 9 Bomb Design . 11 The Trinity Test . 11 Hiroshima and Nagasaki, Japan . 12 From the Second World War to the Cold War. 13 Legacy . 14 Park Purpose . 15 Park Signifcance . 16 Fundamental Resources and Values . 18 Related Resources . 22 Interpretive Themes . 26 Part 2: Dynamic Components 27 Special Mandates and Administrative Commitments . 27 Special Mandates . 27 Administrative Commitments . 27 Assessment of Planning and Data Needs . 28 Analysis of Fundamental Resources and Values . 28 Identifcation of Key Issues and Associated Planning and Data Needs . 28 Planning and Data Needs . 31 Part 3: Contributors 36 Appendixes 38 Appendix A: Enabling Legislation for Manhattan Project National Historical Park. 38 Appendix B: Inventory of Administrative Commitments . 43 Appendix C: Fundamental Resources and Values Analysis Tables. 48 Appendix D: Traditionally Associated Tribes . 87 Appendix E: Department of Energy Sites within Manhattan Project National Historical Park .
    [Show full text]
  • ATOM for PEACE, NOT for WAR Prof
    AUGUST, 2014 ATOM FOR PEACE, NOT FOR WAR Prof. Manashi Goswami ComeAugust,thewhole worldremembers Three otherplanes had left earlierin orderto two frightfuldays ofworld history,August 6th ascertain the weather condition over the and 9th, 1945. The atomic bombings of the possibletargets.On thehookinthe ceiling of cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki in Japan the plane hung the ten- foot atomic bomb wereconducted onthesedays by theUnited "Little Boy". On 6th August,1945, the first States during the finalstageofWorld WarII. choice target Hiroshima, was having clear These two bombings werethefirst and remain weather.At 8:15(am) localtime, Enola Gay's theonly useofnuclearweapons in warfare. doorsprangopen and itdroppedthe little boy. By August1945, theallied Manhattan project had successfully tested an atomic deviceand had produced weapons based on two alternate designs.Auranium gun type atomic bomb (Little Boy) was dropped on Hiroshima on August 6,1945, followed by a Plutoniumimplosion-type bomb (Fat Man) onthecity ofNagasakionAugust 9. Within thefirsttwo to fourmonths of thebombing, The Mushroom Cloud acute effect killed 90,000 - 166,000 people Thebomb exploded 1,900feet abovethe in Hiroshima and 60,000 - 80,000 in city.The mushroom cloud itself was a Nagasaki. During the following months large number of people died various radiation spectacularsight.Abubbling mass ofpurple- effects and injuries. gray smoke with a hot red burning core estimated to have reached a height of 40,000 On the Day feet.Such was the description of dreadful At 2.45 amonMonday,August 6,1945a devastation that tookplaceon6th August1945 B-29 bomber plane,the Enola Gay tookoff at Hiroshima city. from Tinian, a north pacific island in the Why Hiroshima Marinianas,1500 miles south of Japan.
    [Show full text]
  • Reflections of War Culture in Silverplate B-29 Nose Art from the 509Th Composite Group by Terri D. Wesemann, Master of Arts Utah State University, 2019
    METAL STORYTELLERS: REFLECTIONS OF WAR CULTURE IN SILVERPLATE B-29 NOSE ART FROM THE 509TH COMPOSITE GROUP by Terri D. Wesemann A thesis submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of MASTER OF SCIENCE in American Studies Specialization Folklore Approved: ______________________ ____________________ Randy Williams, MS Jeannie Thomas, Ph.D. Committee Chair Committee Member ______________________ ____________________ Susan Grayzel, Ph.D. Richard S. Inouye, Ph.D. Committee Member Vice Provost for Graduate Studies UTAH STATE UNIVERSITY Logan, Utah 2019 Copyright © Terri Wesemann 2019 All Rights Reserved ABSTRACT Metal Storytellers: Reflections of War Culture in Silverplate B-29 Nose Art From the 509th Composite Group by Terri D. Wesemann, Master of Arts Utah State University, 2019 Committee Chair: Randy Williams, MS Department: English Most people are familiar with the Enola Gay—the B-29 that dropped Little Boy, the first atomic bomb, over the city of Hiroshima, Japan on August 6, 1945. Less known are the fifteen Silverplate B-29 airplanes that trained for the mission, that were named and later adorned with nose art. However, in recorded history, the atomic mission overshadowed the occupational folklore of this group. Because the abundance of planes were scrapped in the decade after World War II and most WWII veterans have passed on, all that remains of their occupational folklore are photographs, oral and written histories, some books, and two iconic airplanes in museum exhibits. Yet, the public’s infatuation and curiosity with nose art keeps the tradition alive. The purpose of my graduate project and internship with the Hill Aerospace Museum was to collaborate on a 60-foot exhibit that analyzes the humanizing aspects of the Silverplate B-29 nose art from the 509th Composite Group and show how nose art functioned in three ways.
    [Show full text]
  • FIFTY YEARS AFTER HIROSHIMA and NAGASAKI Y. Nishiwaki
    XA05C0005 INVITED PRESENTATIONS PROCEEDINGS FIFTY YEARS AFTER HIROSHIMA AND NAGASAKI Y. Nishiwaki Prof. Emeritus, Tokyo Institute of Technology, Tokio, Japan Hon.Prof. der Universität Wien, Institut fir Medizinische Physik, Universität Wien, Wien, Austria Fifty years ago, in 1945, the first three atomic bombs in human history were produced by the United States; one of these bombs was exploded experimentally at the testing ground in the desert 80 km from Alamogordo, New Mexico, on 16 July. The remaining two were used against Japan; the one called "Little Boy", using Uranium 235 was dropped on Hiroshima on 6 August, the other "Fat Man", using Plutonium 239 on Nagasaki on 9 August, 1945. In the early morning, at 1:30 a.m. of 6 August 1945, a United States Army weather observation plane took off from the Tinian air base in one of the Mariana Islands in the Pacific towards Japan. As the plane approached Hiroshima, at an altitude of about 10,000 metres, it sent a message to the B-29 "Enola Gay" loaded with an atomic bomb, which was following it, "fair weather, ready for air raid." The "Enola Gay" took off from Tinian Island at 2:45 a.m. together with two observation planes on both sides, and invaded Hiroshima from the northeast and dropped the atomic bomb at 8:15:17 a.m., (Tinian time 9:15:17 a.m.), at an altitude of 9,600 metres. Records on the time of explosion range from 8:15 to 8:18 a.m., depending on the source of information. However, according to the Hiroshima City, the official time of explosion was announced to have been 8:15 a.m.
    [Show full text]
  • The Smithsonian and the Enola Gay: the Atomic Bomb
    AFA’s Enola Gay Controversy Archive Collection www.airforcemag.com The Smithsonian and the Enola Gay From the Air Force Association’s Enola Gay Controversy archive collection Online at www.airforcemag.com The Atomic Bomb The Manhattan Project Spurred on by German success in splitting the atom and fearing the Germans would develop a nuclear bomb first, US scientists had been working toward an atomic weapon since 1939. They pursued two approaches to creating fissionable material, one to extract U-235 nuclear fuel from natural uranium (U- 238) and the other to produce plutonium. Both approaches would be successful. In 1942, the program was transferred to the Army Corps of Engineers and designated the “Manhattan Project,” taking its name from the Corps’s Manhattan Engineer District. Col. Leslie R. Groves—later a major general—was appointed as director. Plants at Oak Ridge, Tenn., and Hanford, Wash., produced the U-235 and the plutonium. At the University of Chicago, Enrico Fermi and his team succeeded in generating the world’s first controlled nuclear chain reaction. Scientists and engineers at Los Alamos, N.M., headed by physicist J. Robert Oppenheimer, worked on designing and building an atomic bomb. Los Alamos tried two possible designs, a bulbous 10-foot bomb called “Fat Man” and a long, skinny 17- foot bomb called “Thin Man.” Eventually, Thin Man was canceled in favor of a shorter design dubbed “Little Boy.” The program was ready for testing by 1945, but there was only enough U-235 for one bomb, so the test bomb—known as “the gadget”—was a plutonium device, similar to “Fat Man,” the bomb that would be dropped on Nagasaki.
    [Show full text]
  • WWII Enola Gay's Flight
    Enola Gay’s Flight The giant silver bomber roared along the runway on Tinian Island in the darkness, passing the firetrucks and ambulances parked every 50 feet, struggling to pick up speed. "Dimples Eight Two" weighed 150,000 pounds, and with fuel for the long flight to Hiroshima, 12 men on board, and a five-ton uranium bomb in the bay, the B-29 was 15,000 pounds overweight. The pilot, Col. Paul W. Tibbets Jr., 30, had handpicked the airplane on the assembly line in Nebraska three months before and had just had his mother's name, "Enola Gay," painted in black letters on the nose. As the plane rumbled down the airstrip at over 100 mph, he had his lucky cigarette case with him in one pocket, and a box containing 12 cyanide capsules in another. On Aug. 6, 1945 no one was sure how Special Bombing Mission No. 13, the world's first atomic attack, would go. Would it end in disaster for the crew in Japan? Eight downed American airmen had been beheaded by the Japanese a few weeks before. Would it end in the obliteration of Hiroshima? Would the overweight airplane with the crazy call sign even get off the runway? Would the crew have need for the cyanide? Two other B-29s, the "Great Artiste" and "Necessary Evil," were supposed to go along to take pictures and record data. But "Enola Gay" was the "strike ship." Fifteen hundred miles to the north-northwest, under a waning crescent moon, lay a 400-year-old Japanese city most Americans probably had never heard of but whose name was about to be etched into the pages of history.
    [Show full text]
  • The Use of Tinian Island During World War II OUTLINE
    The Use of Tinian Island During World War II OUTLINE • Background • Assault on Tinian Island • Seabee Construction and North Field • Tinian and the Atomic Bombs • Tinian Today Background • Tinian and Saipan Islands had been Japanese stronghold since the end of WW I • Ability to reach Japan with long-range B-29 bombers • Saipan was attacked on 15 June 1944 and captured by mid-August 1944 Background Assault on Tinian "An Amtrac loaded with Marines, churns through the sea bound for beaches of Tinian Island" July 1944. Two tiny landing beaches, White 1 and White 2, were used at Tinian to land two entire divisions. Each beach was slightly less than 200 feet wide! One of 10 “doodlebug” landing ramps built by the Seabees mounted on an Amtrac The SeaBees fashioned these ramps from scrap steel taken out of a Japanese Sugar Mill on Saipan. They allowed Marine Amtracs to scale the 8-foot high cliffs along the White Beach landing zone The Americans employed a deception landing off the coast of Tinian Town, holding Japanese forces there while the main landings occurred at White Beaches on the northwest side of Tinian. The deception force then proceeded north and landed at White Beach. Construction of the World’s Largest Air Bases on Tinian Four 8,500 foot runways were eventually constructed by the SeaBees at North Field on Tinian, in addition to two similar runways constructed at West Feld, a few miles southwest. The four runways at North Field on Tinian comprised the largest single airport in world in mid-summer 1945.
    [Show full text]